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La Crosse Council Eases Marijuana Enforcement

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — The La Crosse Common Council has passed an ordinance that decriminalizes possession of a small amount of marijuana.

The council Thursday night passed a local law that allows law enforcement to ticket, not criminally charge a person for first-time possession of 7 grams of marijuana or less.

Half of the ticket revenue would go to the police department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, also known as DARE. Council member Doug Happel opposed the move, saying it sends the wrong message about drug use.

Jim,
No, ol’ Billy Boy can’t expand on that right now. He’s too busy 12-stepping and thinking that pot caused all his problems, when it really was the poor parenting he received as a youngster… (rolls eyes).

Yea because I’ve seen so many headlines that read “man smokes pot then crashes car and kills family of four”. I think “lacrosse morons” are just fed up with spending taxpayer dollars on catching harmless teenage pot heads as opossed to murderers and child molesters.

Hey “Moron”, if I may call you that, It’s legal to use and posses alcohol. If you are caught driving under the influence of to much alcohol or have it open in your car while driving it is a crime. The same standard would surely apply to weed. And, by the way, driving stoned ( While a bad idea) is far safer than drunk driving. You are slow, cautious and not aggressive. LaCrosse is doing the right thing. Weed is is an incredibly safe recreational and medicinal substance. It’s only danger is to your waistline and motivation if over used. You may even find it prompts you to ask questions you never thought of before.

Safer to drive high, than drunk? Are you serious? I personally think pot should be decriminalized, but when people make dumb statements like this one, it hurts the cause. If impaired driving is illegal, then regardless if it is pills, alcohol or pot, it should be illegal.

Believe it or not……. I have some summer pot plants growing just outside LaCrosse City Hall next to the Marigolds. Just smell the fresh air as you walk it. What a relief for our fast moving culture. Did anyone mention the Wi Zombies yet?

This seems like a step in the right direction. I really can’t figure out how this country allows alcohol to be bought, sold, and consumed just about everywhere, but smoking a bit of pot is a criminal offense. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Pot should be legalized and regulated just as alcohol is. No selling to minors, no smoking and driving, etc. Allow responsible adults to purchase and consume it in their own homes and designated locations (like bars). This would ease a huge burden on law enforcement, make space for real criminals in our jails, and would be an enormous blow to drug dealers here and abroad.

Not to mention the tax dollars that would roll in when it is sold. Just like booze they could put a big tax on it and make a lot of money instead of wasting a lot of money by locking people up for smoking a little. I guess people still think…. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!!!!

Slowly but surely this country is finally starting to realize the lack of benefit for having marijuana be an illegal substance not to mention the benefits of legalizing it… Many drug dealers would be out of commission, criminals in Mexico would have no use smuggling the stuff across our boarder an longer, the plant itself has more uses than just being something to get high off of as you can make clothing and paper etc. out of hemp, it would give our police officers better things to do other than busting pot heads, it would give people opportunities to open new businesses and plant new farms, the list goes on. You don’t have to be a pot smoker to benefit from legalizing marijuana, it is clearly something that ought to be done.